Hot
weather is always when it is most "okay" to get into pinks;
although it can't be wrong to "think pink" in the budding
spring season or even the dead of winter. Selections of good pink
wines may not be the most plentiful in retail storesyou usually
have to hunt for them somewhere in an ill-lit cornerbut there
is a surprising number of producers who have made high quality pink
wines something of a yearly fetish.

What
a great habit to have. Why? Because pink wines taste great by themselves,
and are even better with foodfrom weenies on toothpicks to
never-ending Babette-like feasts. The following are my favorites,
which I suggest with one caveat: never, never buy a bottle that
is over two years old. For pink wines, dry or sweet, it's always
the-fresher-the-better!

Rosé
di Regaleali (Sicily)

The
world owes Leonardo LoCascio of Winebow, an outstanding portfolio
of Italian imports, for bringing this perennial winner to America.
Made from indigenous Sicilian grapes, this is always a completely
dry Rosé-colored wine, and its juicy, fleshy, mouth-watering
flavors allow it to cross all kinds of food barriers. Red BBQ chicken
is a no-brainer; so is meatloaf in an herby, mushroomy or tomato-laced
gravy. Wok-charring some crisp vegetables and fluffy white rice
tonight? What better wine for an instant meal than an instantaneously
fresh pop of a Regaleali!

My
first taste of this seriously bone dry and full structured pink
wine was in one of L.A. star chef Joachim Splichal's restaurantsmatched
with foie gras with rhubarb and strawberries! With fireworks, drums,
and entire symphonies going off in my head, the wine's luscious,
cherry bright fruitiness made this powerful dish even richer and
more decadent. How many Rosés can do that? Every year, the
Charles Melton Rosé of Virginia is as rich and full as a
pink wine gets. Therefore I suspect that it could do just as well
with grilled fish with chutney, squab with figs, duck with plum
sauce, or any dish that combines meats and natural fruits.

De
Loach, White Zinfandel (California)

This
has been the class of California White Zins as far as most people
can remember. Although slightly sweet, this pale pink rendition
positively brims with fruit; so much that it would almost seem naked
with out some fresh, natural sweetness. While terrific with things
like hibachi-grilled salmon marinated in ponzu, it makes just as
wonderful an antidote for chili-spiced BBQ meats.

This
old favorite, and super value, is made in a lighter, low alcohol
(almost Germanic), and notably sweeter style than the De Loach,
and is always dripping with lush, watermelon-y flavors. Ever wonder
what to drink with super hot, sticky, vinegary, tomatoey baby back
ribs? Here it is.

McDowell
Valley, Mendocino Grenache Rosé (California)

There
tends to be more of a strawberry fruitiness in Grenache based pinks;
and to my knowledge, McDowell Valley's has been the smoothest and
freshest made in California. This is, however, a completely dry
style of Rosé; its soft fruitiness enhanced by fine, leafy
green nuances. Great by itself, but dynamite with fish and rice
seasoned with everything from Japanese furikake (chopped seaweed
and sesame seed seasonings) to pickled ginger, ume (sour plums),
soy, and sesame seeds.

Not
much of this comes out each spring, but this is as refined as a
pink wine gets. Very pale in color, bone dry, lithe, delicate, and
bursting with fragrant, red fruit with Rosé hip tea-like
suggestionsas a Gen Xer might put it, like Gwyneth Paltrow
in lace on a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snowthis is
not something you have to think twice about with summer pastas in
green herby marinara, or just cold shrimp with sweet-spicy cocktail
sauces.

Tavel Rosé, Chateau de Trinquevedel (Rhone Valley,
France)

This
is the richest French Rosé I know; firmly dry, yet effusively
fruity, giving deep, full, lip-smacking flavors just hinting at
wet stones and green leafy herbs. Wines like this easily handle
grilled chicken, roast turkey, squab, pigeon, and any game bird,
especially with generous sides of squash and root vegetables.

Bandol
Rosé, Domaine Tempier (Provence, France)

The
eternal favorite of Kermit Lynch, the respected Berkeley wine merchant,
and produced by the Peyraud family, who has inspired legions of
American gastronomes like Richard Olney and Alice Waters. But this
is pink wine, not the stuff of royalty. What you will always find
in Domaine Tempier's Rosé is something remarkably fresh,
fluid, bone dry yet forwardly fruitythe essence of miniature
sweet strawberries rolling across the tonguefinishing with
a soft, stony smoothness. If you think Provence when you pop one
ravioli and ragoût, salt cod (or brandade) and anchovy,
pesto and aïoli, ratatouille and bouillabaisse, chicken with
40 cloves of garlic, etc. you really can't go wrong. In a
pinch, Château de Pibarnon also makes an excellent Bandol
Roséeven dryer and firmer than the Domaine Tempier,
but no less fulfilling.